Give 'em Shell: Jcc Lures Business

July 19, 1995|By ALISON FREEHLING Daily Press

JAMES CITY (COUNTY) — It's already convinced Solarex Corp. to come to James City County - and Mitsubishi may not be far behind.

The county's $2 million, 60,000-square-foot industrial shell building is still under construction, but its success in attracting businesses to the area already has county officials talking about building another.

``We're starting to think in that direction, although there will be no recommendation to the board until this one is completed and occupied,'' said Keith Taylor, county economic coordinator. ``It's certainly my desire to do a second one, maybe lower down in the county.''

Taylor and other county officials would not comment on the possibility of Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics America Inc. building a plant near the shell building, which is located on six acres just off Route 64 in Stonehouse Commerce Park.

But they said the shell building - a one-story structure with walls and windows but no interior divisions or furnishings - will be the impetus to economic growth in Stonehouse and the entire county.

``It's clear that the shell building concept has paid off,'' Perry DePue, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said at a recent breakfast for area business leaders. ``But we're not going to stop there - we're just going to go further forward.''

Solarex Corp., a Frederick, Md.-based company, announced in June that it will build a $25 million solar panel plant across the street from the shell building.

Mitsubishi officials toured Stonehouse Park in early June. The company also is considering sites in Newport News and North Carolina, Newport News officials have said.